This was a student project by Stephen Dinnen for Beth Blostein's ARCH 341: Architecture Design IV course, Autumn 2006.
The design process for our studio began with the study of a type of fruit. Architectural theories and ideas formed from this study inspired our logical progression for the development of housing units in New Orleans. My initial drawings began with a formal study of the raspberry and its structural characteristics. The individual cells in the raspberry create tensions that hold the whole structure together. The tension aspect was further investigated in my material study which involved the manipulation of bubble wrap. Cords where woven through the fabric in a rigorous manner and pulled tight to create tensions that held the structure together. My first building model took the ideas of pulling two different systems (bubble wrap and cords) together as I proposed integrating water into the site in order to reconnect the city with the Mississippi River, located on the opposite side of the levee. This model also presented the idea of a continuous wrapper that I used as the form for the final model. The final model is a faceted derivation of the previous model. The faceted form allowed for the pulling out of floor planes and overhangs to shade the living cells from the hot, summer, New Orleans' sun. Water is pulled into the site through a series of paths formed from the structure's wrapper. The water submerges the back row of cells, tying together the two systems of land and water. The facets begin to deconstruct as the land/water is pulled into the site. The smaller facets provide for a means of rain water drainage that fills the water basin, building structure that supports the elevated cells, and public. -- Stephen Dinnen
This work is a part of the online collections of the Knowlton School of Architecture Student Archives, The Ohio State University.
